Space For Parrot Left In Irish Squad

Republic of Ireland Under-17 Head Coach Colin O’Brien has announced his squad for the 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championships, which kick off in Ireland on Friday.

A decision will be made on the final player to complete the squad with O’Brien still in talks with Tottenham Hotspur over the possibility of playmaker Troy Parrott being involved.

Goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu and attacker Festy Ebosele both return to the squad after recently earning call-ups to the Ireland Under-21 and Under-19 set-ups respectively.

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This is the third straight year that O’Brien will lead an Ireland team in this tournament with a quarter-final finish achieved in Croatia in 2017 and in England last year.

“I can’t stress it enough to the public, this really is the biggest competition that they can play in. It’s the best of the best in Europe coming to Ireland – there is going to be some serious quality on the doorstep and we have some quality in our team as well,” said O’Brien.

“Even for our own development, to play in front of an Irish crowd, getting behind the team, we know how well our supporters get behind our teams, and we really need that. We will need that 12th man, because tournament football is demanding, you have three games in seven days”.

Republic of Ireland will play in the Regional Sportsground in Waterford and Tallaght Stadium in Dublin

The City Calling Stadium are hosting games in the tournament starting with England versus France on Friday night in Group B.